June 2001

[Part 161]

“Issues of the heart”

[Part Seventy-nine]

Hope For the Fearful Heart! [KKK]

“WHO CAN I TURN TO?”

“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (Jn 1:29)

              In Parts 154-160 [See: “Past Issues”] the Holy Spirit has quickened new understanding of our Savior of the world as Scripture depicts Him in all four members of the ovine family- the ram, ewe, sheep and lamb; then as the Good Shepherd Who lovingly tends and saves all His lost sheep! Part 159 shows GOD IS THE “RAM”; Part 160 reveals: GOD IS THE “EWE”; now we see:

GOD IS THE “SHEEP”

            Isa 53:6 says, “We ALL, like sheep, have gone astray. We ALL have turned our own way; and the Lord has laid on Himself the iniquity of us ALL!” As God sowed (spoke) His Seed-Word into many shapes and forms of mass and matter, He included the earthly frames of men and beasts. What separates the word-man from the other word-elements is the Presence and Power of Christ, His Anointing! Human science has proved- to a fault in their promulgation of evolution as a kind of anti-religion- that without Christ, all men are beasts! Asaph lamented to God, “I was so foolish and ignorant, I was as a beast before You!” (Ps 73:22) But he went on to avow his faith to God saying, “Nevertheless, I am continually with You, for You have held me in Your Right Hand! Your Counsel will guide me (as a Shepherd leads his sheep) after which you will receive me into glory! Whom have I in heaven but You? I desire no one on earth but You! My flesh and my heart fail; but You are the Strength of my heart and my Portion forever! Those (thoughts of my flesh mind) which are far from You perish for You have destroyed all (thoughts) that go a-whoring from You! But it is good for me that I draw near to God; and put my trust in the Lord God, so I may declare all Your Works (in my Life)!:” (Isa 53: 23-28)
          Here on one hand, Asaph confesses his bestial nature to God; but then his profession of Faith in God rings clear and true! This is a perfect picture of a wheat stalk that is painfully aware of his unwinnowed chaff , yet he eagerly awaits his harvest time! 1 Co 15:46 teaches that all men must live TWO LIVES on this earth: the first is a temporary life called “natural”; the second and last is an Eternal Life called “spiritual”! This is God’s divine order and we have no more choice in living the latter of these two lives than we’ve had in living the former. For just as we are born into our first human existence with no voice in the matter; so we are “born again” into our second and last spiritual existence with no say-so whatever! We are blessed that God lets us “make the choice” to “Walk by Faith and not by sight”; (2 Co 5:7) but only AFTER He already quickens us to Life by His Christ! He says, “No man can say ‘Jesus is the Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit!” (1 Co 12:3) And Jesus adds, “No one is able to come to Me except the Father Who sent Me attracts and draws (lit. drags) and first gives him the desire to come to Me!” (Jn 6:44) And that is what is meant by, “He is before all things!”(Col 1:17) God’s Anointed Word of Faith is His Shepherd that leads His sheep back home to the Living Waters of His Spirit , and the green pastures of His Truth, so they are able to declare Jesus Christ as the Lord of Life! How does He do this? “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God!” (Ro 10:17) He opens our spiritual ear by His Christ! God says, “My people have all been lost sheep whose (earthly) shepherds (their carnal thoughts) have led them astray and turned them away from My mountain so they go from mountain to hill (in search of good grazing lands)! For THEY HAVE FORGOTTEN THEIR RESTING PLACE! All that have found them devoured them and their foes say, ‘We are not guilty because they sinned against the Lord Who is their Habitation of Justice and Righteousness and Hope of their fathers!” (Jer 50:6-7) Also, “ISRAEL IS A SCATTERED SHEEP!” (Jer 50:17-20) [The article “a” signifies a singular word shall follow, thereby implying that “ISRAEL” is a Solitary Being!! In Jer 31:9 God says, “I am a FATHER to ISRAEL!” And Jesus Christ is His only-begotten Son, so we may conclude, JESUS CHRIST IS ISRAEL (lit. “He who rules with God”)! The verse adds, “Israel (Jesus Christ) is a SCATTERED SHEEP!” That is because His Life is apportioned into each of our separate human lives! But Father, the Shepherd of Love, vows, ‘I will bring Israel back to His Habitation; and he shall feed on the mountains of Carmel [Heb 3760 lit. “Fruitful garden; planted field, orchard, full ears of corn [See: Mk 4:26-29], and a vineyard], and Bashan [lit. “Soft, loamy soil” ]; and his soul will be satisfied on Ephraim [Heb 669 “Double-fruitfulness”] and Gilead [Heb 1568 “Gushing springs and heaping waves of witness and testimony]! And at that time, says the Lord, the iniquity of Israel will be sought, but none shall be found; nor shall the sin of Judah be found; for I will pardon all them whom I have *reserved (Heb 7604 “All the rest, the remainder, the residue and remnant!”]
        Isaiah’s poignant description of Jesus Christ’s suffering and crucifixion says this of Him, “As A (ONE) SHEEP is mute before his shearers, so HE did not open His Mouth!!” (Isa 53:8) Here is only ONE SHEEP that was sheered of His FLEECE OF ANOINTING! That was when this Seed-Word of Life “Fell into the ground and died...to bear much fruit” (Jn 12:24) and had to become the Word of Death of every man’s mortal life, and until the His Resurrection of His Christ, He was not able to open His Mouth in His own defense! [If we reread all Scriptures containing the word, “sheep”, and reconsider the word as “singular” instead of plural, we will see Jesus Christ revealed in a whole new light!! Selah!]

[TO BE CONTINUED]